Fading Colors
by britannysnow
Summary: A recurring dream leaves Beca wondering the meaning behind it.
1. Chapter 1

**_Author's Note:_ **_This is my first piece that I actually am interested in, and depending on feedback, I will most likely continue with. _

* * *

The barely audible ballpoint pen scratched over the paper. Her bracelets jingled on her wrist as she slid her hand from left to right, writing fluently. The words that she had desperately tried to say during her occasional calls with the redhead tumbled out as she wrote. The small brunette sighed as she placed the pen down, drumming her fingers mindlessly, her cheeks puffed in frustration as she let out the air that was trapped inside. Beca balled her hands into fists repeatedly, cracking her knuckles as she continued.

After painstaking moments, Beca placed her pen again and rolled back in her chair, placing her hands on either side of her temple as she leant back. Her muscles quivered with tension and anger and regret, a cacophony of feelings and emotions. Getting up from her chair, she hovered over her laptop and finalized the idea she'd had for months. Pressing the purchase ticket button drained her of all strength. She flopped onto the bed, her body bouncing carelessly for a moment before she settled down on top of the covers, drifting off into sleep.

Beca wandered through an obscenely white room. The room smelled of antiseptic and the endless drone of crying children sounded throughout the echoing hall. Each step was agonizingly loud. As her foot delicately touched the ground, it sounded like millions of beaten up converse had stomped on the ground below her. The floor shook with anger as she stepped on, breaking into a run towards the only door in the room. She gingerly reached out and tugged at the handle, mumbling as her hand slipped off the surface. She looked down and gasped in horror. Her hand was covered in a thin red sheen of blood along with the chrome handle, pooling blood on the floor, staining it's pristine white shine. Reluctantly, Beca opened the door swiftly, stepping inside. Instead of the blinding white, this room was full of warm colors that felt like home. The air smelled of cinnamon and pinecones, the scent wafting into her nose with each small breath.

Gentle beeping of multiple machines drifted throughout the room. The brunette turned hear head slowly to the stiff bed in the center of the room. A white plush dummy sat on the bed rather hilariously, it's fake arms stretched out and it's legs stiff as boards. She stepped towards it, poking the side. She pulled back her hand when where she touched turned a bloody red. She stepped back, terrified. The color gone from her face, almost the same shade as the doll infront of her.

Suddenly, the walls had begun to fade into cooler winter colors. The once welcoming dark reds turned to a cold harsh dark blue. The yellows that screamed happiness faded to an icy gray of bitterness and disdain. Beca felt unwelcome. She turned around quickly and sprinted out of the room, stepping over the large pool of blood from the door. Her feet left bloody smeared footprints in their wake. The white walls were closing in on her, dragging against the ground creating a deafening sound. Her running slowed to a brisk jog to a walk to a near limp. The walls pressed against her shoulders, forcing her to swivel sideways. Right as Beca shut her eyes, coming to terms with her end, her vision faded to black.

The girl woke up in a cold sweat, her sheets astrewn across her body. Her laptop lay broken on the ground, a result of her violent thrashing. Beca sat up, panting heavily. Her hand reached out blindly, groping for her clock. Turning the screen towards her, she groaned as it read 3 A.M. She'd only slept for four hours and she had already scared herself into not sleeping. She'd been having the same dream every night for the past two weeks now. The white room, the blood-coated door, the bleeding dummy, ending with her inevitable death that she never met in the dream. Deciding that she would not be getting any further sleep, she stood up and arched her back groggily. She paced into the small kitchenette on the tips of her toes, careful not to stir Kimmy Jin. Beca had become strangely attached to the mute girl. It was one of those relationships that you just nod at each other, agreeing to disagree, but they both knew that if they had different roommates their lives would be very different.

Beca thought of making some soup or some other generic comfort food to calm her down, but that required moving pans and waiting for their second-hand stovetop to heat up... the amount of effort just thinking of the steps to make the soup exhausted Beca. She placed her elbows on the cold countertop, sighing. She stood up straight and carefully walked back to her bed, fixing the sheets before lying back down. After much internal struggle, she faded back to a slumber, praying to no one in particular to let her escape that dream.


	2. Chapter 2

The sunlight beamed in, unfortunately piercing through Beca's tired eyelids. Her prayers were answered. She had not had to endure the terror that was the dream in which she always was crushed by walls of white formal death. She grumbled as her alarm clock whirred, vibrating closer to the edge every few moments. She murmured into her pillow, speaking to the inanimate object, pleading for it to shutup. When the clock replied with another defiant buzz, she slammed her fist down on the edge of the snooze button, sending the clock sliding off the table onto the floor. The thin black wire came unplugged, and gave Beca a few more moments of peace before she felt the guilt of not waking up yet. Suddenly, the brunette girl sat up, remembering the events of last night. She had bought a one-way ticket to Los Angeles, to surprise Chloe.

It had been a long few months since Chloe left with Aubrey to move to Los Angeles together, leaving a stoic, I-hide-my-emotions Beca behind. Her weak arm waving a half-hearted goodbye to her friends would forever be implanted in her brain. It had taken her the following weeks to realize how much Chloe meant to Beca, that Beca loved her. She had never worked up the guts to call Chloe and confess her love like some sappy movie that Jesse had insisted she watch with him. She turned so her legs hung off the side of the bed, curling her toes. Standing up, she smiled thinly in relief when she saw that Kimmy Jin was out. She knelt down on the floor, her bruised legs from kicking in her sleep causing her to hiss through her teeth momentarily, before she shifted onto her side to check her precious laptop. Never had she reacted so violently to that dream, it was usually just waking up out of breath. Anything within stretching distance of her bed was destroyed.

She turned the laptop over and sideways in her hands, checking for an unrepairable damages. Only the cover that protected the battery had shattered in half. Placing the laptop back down, she pressed a palm over her eyes, her other hand's pointer finger just barely putting pressure on the power button. When she heard the fans of the computer begin to spin, she cheered quietly, doing a little hip swivel of a dance. The paused in her tracks when Kimmy Jin cleared her throat behind her, her thin arms crossed across her chest. Beca craned her neck, giving a sheepish grin in response. She stood up, cradling her laptop like her firstborn child. She let her browser load before navigating to her "order history" page on the airline's site, opting to print her tickets. After clicking Print, the printer buzzed and chirped in response to her orders. The paper was chugged out slowly, which Beca snatched up as she could tug it out of the printer's grasp. The date read January 24th, 2013. Turning to her closet, she ruffled around for the suitcase she used to get here and begun packing.

* * *

A monotone voice over hundreds of speakers drowned out the sound of Beca's posthaste walking. Her flight was now boarding. Beca, whom was dressed in sweats and a tanktop, stood in the line behind men and women dressed in suits and ties and pencil-skirts. She felt inadequate, yes, but pushed that all behind her when she remembered who she was going to reunite with today. A head of delicious red locks swirled in her head, leaving Beca faint and exhilerated both at the same time. After a TSA agent practically groped her, and even had the audacity to check out Beca's ass as she passed through the crowd of people, though he quickly averted his gaze as Beca thrashed her head around at him.

After placing her petite carry-on in the stowaway compartment, Beca settled in for the long flight. Due to her small frame, she never had a problem with leg room as others had fervently complained about. After the boarding door to the plane had closed, her mood increased even further when nobody sat down in the two adjacent seats. She slid over to the window seat and splayed her legs out onto the other chairs once the buckled sign was no longer lit, and opened her laptop and threw herself into a mix...


	3. Chapter 3

Chloe casually draped a shirt over her body. Her shoulders were pressed up against her neck it was so cold, leaving Chloe's teeth chattering at the similar rate of a hummingbird's wings. She tiptoed past a naked Aubrey, who was entwined in the covers of their bed. Her fragile fingers clutched the top covers over her body, her right leg above the cover holding everything down. She seemed angellic. No, she was angellic. Everything was perfect in Chloe's life. She had a steady job as a music teacher in an elementary school, and Aubrey was in the process of maneuvering her way into one of L.A's biggest law firms. Chloe checked the chrome clock on the wall near their bed, realizing that Aubrey would soon be late. She leant over her peaceful sleeping form, admiring how gentle she looked at that moment in time. She pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead, stroking her sidearm to wake the blonde up. Aubrey murmured, turning her head into the crook of Chloe's neck affectionately. She arched her back and rolled onto her side, smirking with content. Sliding a leg lazily onto the hardwood floor, she rolled further until she was forced to stand up, groggily nonetheless.

Chloe practically pranced off to the kitchen, rustling quietly around the pots and pans, careful not to irritate Aubrey. Eventually the girl began to wake up, running her fingers through her bedridden hair slowly. She murmured again, forming the word 'pancakes' just barely audible enough for Chloe to hear. Chloe searched through their pantry for some pancake mix, returning to the heated pan. After easy flipping and flattening of a good plate of pancakes, Chloe sat on the barstool next to Aubrey, placing a few pancakes on her plate, drowning them in syrup just as she preferred. The pancakes were a bit burnt, but Aubrey scarfed them down hungrily regardless, before leaning over and giving her girlfriend a soft kiss on the cheek before she went off to shower and get ready for work.

Chloe wandered around the room aimlessly without purpose. She went into a small broom closet and detangled a vacuum out of the mess of wires, and began to clean up around the place. She hummed as she pushed and pulled the vacuum around, completely oblivious to the knocking at the door. This went on for several moments before Chloe heard knocking again when her vacuum was jammed with something she had accidentally sucked up. She gave jovial "Oops!" as she left her chore alone for a moment, rushing to the door. She quickly threw her hair up into a ponytail behind her head, before turning the handle and opening the door.

* * *

Beca in front of the door hesitantly, pacing. She heard the purr of a vacuum at least, joyous that Chloe was home. She had been thinking about this moment for months since Chloe left, the both of them reuniting. Would she embrace Chloe without a word? Break down into tears? Slam the redhead against the wall and devour her? It was all unknown to Chloe. How the other girl would react would determine how she would feel. Holding her wrist limply near the door, she tilted it forward a few times, gingerly knocking on the door. Her force increased after she had knocked probably 50 times, her knuckles sore. Finally, the whir of the vacuum paused and she heard feet padding towards the door. Her breath hitched as the door handle twisted and shook, swallowing hard.

* * *

"...Beca?" Chloe said, wonderstruck.

"Hi Chlo'." The brunette said so leisurely, as if they'd seen each other every day for the past year they've been apart.

"What are you doing here? Oh my gosh!" The redhead immediately leaped out into the hallway, wrapping Beca into a bear hug. The socially terrified girl stiffened, but softened as she realized how much she missed Chloe's touch.

"I flew in to surprise you! It's been so long since I've seen you, and I just thought I'd come up and say hello."

"How long are you here?! Oh my gosh, Aubrey is going to be ecstatic. You may doubt it, but she missed you Becs. She really did." Chloe gave an enthusiastic rushed nod, clearly out of breath from excitement. "Come in, come in!" She beckoned, motioning for Beca to follow her inside. She shut the door with a click, squealing again, baffled at the sudden visit.

"Only for a few days, I can't miss too much school." Beca nodded, pursing her lips.

"Aubrey and I will show you all there is to love about L.A, you'll love it here." She reassured, hugging Beca once more. Suddenly, a sound that Beca had not noticed stopped. The shower had been turned off. Beca raised an eyebrow, standing in the center of their living room with her arms crossed. Chloe noticed how she had no bags, but said nothing. The sound of feet pressing against the tile from the bathroom into the living room sounded through the house, notifying Beca and Chloe of Aubrey's approach. When the blonde rounded the corner, her head was inclined down, her hair being put up into a sloppy blonde. Chloe's jaw dropped open, a small sound escaping her lips.

"What, babe?" The naked girl mumbled, raising her head at Chloe's shock. She screamed as she saw Beca standing in her living room, running behind the dresser. "Oh my god! Oh my god, Beca, I'm so sorry." Her face flustered to a deep shade of red, her eyes peeking just over the edge of the dresser. Beca's mouth had also been wide open, astounded. No words came out yet. Aubrey ran back into the bathroom, coming back out with a towel wrapped securely under her arms. She blushed again as she looked at a frozen Beca, who was studdering.

"U-Uh... I'm going to pretend I didn't see that." Beca averted her gaze, finding sudden interest in the floorboards. Chloe broke out in laughter, the kind that left you crippled on the floor. The first 5 minutes her and Beca are together again, and Aubrey is introduced naked.

"I'm so sorry again, Beca. This is really awkward." All 3 of the girls simultaneously nodded. "I'm going to get fully dressed now. Yeah." Aubrey repeated to herself, rummaging some clothes out of her drawers before disappearing back into the bathroom for a second time.

"Uh, Chlo?" Beca questioned.

"Yeah?"

"Why is Aubrey naked walking around your apartment?" Beca looked at Chloe with eyes the size of saucers, blinking.

"She's uh.. uh... my girlfriend." Chloe had almost forgotten the word she had been so thrown off by the recent events. Chloe turned her head towards the shut door that Aubrey was behind, oblivious to the broken look on Beca's face, and how close to tears the brunette was.


End file.
